Mugabe seeks military chief from outside

Press, 22 July 1980, Page 8

Mugabe seeks military chief from outside

NZPA-Reuter Salisbury The Prime Minister of Zimbabwe (Mr Robert Mugabe) is considering appointing a general from a Commonwealth country to replace the white head of Zimbabwe’s military command, Lieutenant-General Peter Walls, informed sources have said. Mr Mugabe’s aim was to find a neutral figure who could bridge the deep hostilities between the three armies that fought the seven-year bush war leading to Zimbabwe’s independence arid forge them into a single national force, the sources said. General Walls, aged 54, announced on Thursday that he would retire at the end of this month because he felt his job in the military

integration programme had been completed. The sources declined to name the Commonwealth country under consideration or to identify possible candidates to replace General Walls, who directed the fight by white-led Rhodesian forces against Patriotic Front guerrillas. General Walls was charged with overseeing the integration of Mr Mugabe’s Zimbabwe. African National Liberation Army, Zipra (the Zimbabwe People’s Revolutionary Army), led ,by the Home Affairs Minister (Mr Joshua Nkomo) arid the’former white-led Rhodesian Army. ... . r . The Commonwealth, of •which Zimbabwe is now a member, played a key role in securing the peace settlement in December and is therefore seen as an appro-1

Ipriate organisation to proJvide General Walls’s successor. The sources said Mr Mugabe was considering appointing an outsider to avoid upsetting the delicate truce between the three forces by allowing the commander of one of them to outrank the other two. But, the sources said, the appointment of an outsider; could run into stiff ' resistance, particularly from Mr Mugabe’s hard-line colleagues who want Z.A.NL.A.’s commander, Rex Nhbngo, aged 32, to succeed General Walls. British officials in Salisbury disriiissed speculation that a British general might replace General Walls, saying Mr Mugabe might find it politically embarrassing to invite the former colonial (power to run his army.